[00:01.49]Lesson 41
[00:03.58]Training elephants
[00:12.00]At what point does the training of a captive wild elephant begin?
[00:19.28]Two main techniques have been used for training elephants, which we may call respectively the tough and the gentle.
[00:27.71]The former method simply consists of setting an elephant to work and beating him until he does what is expected of him.
[00:36.50]Apart from any moral considerations this is a stupid method of training,
[00:42.02]for it produces a resentful animal who at a later stage may well turn man-killer.
[00:48.76]The gentle method requires more patience in the early stages,
[00:53.04]but produce a cheerful good-tempered elephant who will give many years of loyal service.
[01:00.62]The first essential in elephant training is to assign to the animal a single mahout who will be entirely responsible for the job.
[01:11.01]Elephants like to have one master just as dogs do, and are capable of a considerable degree of personal affection.
[01:20.32]There are even stories of half-trained elephant calves who have refused to feed and pined to death
[01:27.05]when by some unavoidable circumstance they have been deprived of their own trainer.
[01:33.30]Such extreme cases must probably be taken with a grain of salt,
[01:38.17]but they do underline the general principle that the relationship between elephant and mahout is the key to successful training.
[01:48.26]The most economical age to capture an elephant for training is between 15 and 20 years,
[01:54.97]for it is then almost ready to undertake heavy work and can begin to earn its keep straight away.
[02:02.26]But animals of this age do not easily become subservient to man, and a very firm hand must be employed in the early stages.
[02:12.14]The captive elephant, still roped to a tree,
[02:15.57]plunges and screams every time a man approaches, and for several days will probably refuse all food through anger and fear.
[02:26.03]Sometimes a tame elephant is tethered nearby to give the wild one confidence,
[02:32.06]and in most cases the captive gradually quietens down and begins to accept its food.
[02:39.34]The next stage is to get the elephant to the training establishment,
[02:44.06]a ticklish business which is achieved with the aid of two tame elephants roped to the captive on either side.
[02:52.18]When several elephants are being trained at one time,
[02:55.54]it is customary for the new arrival to be placed between the stalls of two captives whose training is already well advanced.
[03:04.40]It is then left completely undisturbed with plenty of food and water
[03:08.66]so that it can absorb the atmosphere of its new home and see that nothing particularly alarming is happening to its companions.
[03:17.58]When it is eating normally, its own training begins.
[03:21.87]The trainer stands in front of the elephant holding a long stick with a sharp metal point.
[03:27.68]Two assistants, mounted on tame elephants, control the captive from either side,
[03:33.62]while others rub their hands over his skin to the accompaniment of a monotonous and soothing chant.
[03:41.04]This is supposed to induce pleasurable sensations in the elephant,
[03:45.24]and its effects are reinforced by the use of endearing epithets,
[03:49.76]such as 'ho! my son', or 'ho! my father', or 'my mother', according to the age and sex of the captive.
[03:59.73]The elephant is not immediately susceptible to such blandishments, however, and usually lashes fiercely with its trunk in all directions.
[04:09.00]These movements are controlled by the trainer with the metal-pointed stick,
[04:13.78]and the trunk eventually becomes so sore that the elephant curls it up and seldom afterwards uses it for offensive purposes.